Volume 25, Number 4 Published by C. Robie Booth Christmas 2014

On Sunday, January 11, Mark Kleinhaut will bring his quartet to the Stock-ade Inn for an open-to-the-public concert presented by the Swingtime Jazz So-ciety. See below and Page 9 for details.

Swingtime Presents Mark Kleinhaut The Swingtime Jazz Society presents Mark Kleinhaut Quartet in concert on Sunday, Janu-ary 11, at the Stockade Inn. The concert, from 4 to 6 p.m., is followed by a one-hour jam session. The Mark Kleinhaut Quartet is a performance platform for featuring some of the numerous compositions penned by Kleinhaut along with select jazz standards from "the songbook." Gui-tarist Kleinhaut is joined by some of his favorite accomplices, Chris Pasin on trumpet, John Me-negon on bass and Bob Halek on drums. Of this lineup Kleinhaut says, "These gentlemen are more than seasoned pros, more than the sum all their credentials of who's played with whom, and of course each is a recognized band leader in his own right. I think of them as alchemists be-

cause every time we play together, there is that excitement of living in the moment to create something fresh, unplanned and truly spontane-ous. When I compose something, it's really just the starting point. It's the same if we take a stan-dard....it's just the beginning, and it's where it goes that's really happening. Above all, these guys have huge ears and small egos, two essen-tial ingredients for the right chemistry." Mark Kleinhaut is an accomplished jazz gui-tarist known for his elegant melodic improvisa-tions, striking technical execution and responsive accompaniment. In 2013, Kleinhaut was recog-nized with an entry in Scott Yanow’s new book The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide published by

(Continued on Page 11)

Page 2 SwingtimeJazz.org Swingtime Christmas 2014

Guitarist Mike DeMicco, longtime trio mate with pianist Lee Shaw, is now with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet. Her former bassist Gene Wright was with senior Brubeck, Dave, in his heyday, and her present bassist Rich Syracuse is a top studio recorder and educator, and pre-sent drummer Jeff Siegel is likewise na-tionally known as teacher and performer. Freddie Randall, 98, a professional drummer since he was 10 years old, now retired at the Schaffer Heights Apart-ments in Schenectady, was featured in a big profile by Mark McGuire in The Daily Gazette. He has backed Kate Smith, Bob Hope (two shows a day for four days), Bunny Berigan and Sammy Davis Jr. Singer April Marie and pianist Neil Brown performing Dec. 29 at the Arling-ton House, one-time the famed Journey’s End near Averill Park. This will be the res-taurant’s final event before closing for-ever; too bad. It was a sad day for my family when Walt Spiak recently closed the wonderful family restaurant and tavern in Maplewood (that’s the hamlet between Watervliet and Cohoes). Spiak’s had the best dollar value for ex-cellent food in the Capital District. Their Wednesday special of lobster bisque was as fine as Lockober in Boston. Their bouillabaisse, called the Mediterranean, was splendid. My children

grew up there, and the friendly wait staff, all rela-tives, Barbara, Kim and Tammy, knew the names and orders before they were seated. Good luck to all of you. The Musicians Union will host a party Dec. 28 at the Troy Elks Lodge on De-freestville Road. There is a new jazz venue named Spindles on Remsen in Cohoes that de-serves the patronage of all jazz fans. Every Wednesday from 7:30—9:30 Drew Tirella is at the 1890 Gabler upright grand. On Saturdays from 6:30—9:30 it’s the duo of Dave Vandervort and Kevin Carey. Both are pianists and Dave is also a guitarist. Head chef and owner Don Russell says sitters-in are welcome. He offers a fine inexpensive menu and stocks a great va-riety of wine and a good choice of draft beers. Straight ahead, little friend.

—C. ROBIE BOOTH

The Night Owl

Subscribe to Swingtime magazine. A lifetime subscription is just ten smackers, and it’s delivered to you by e-mail or first-class mail. Send checks to:

C. Robie Booth 6 Briarwood Road Loudonville, NY 12211 Name ____________________________________________________ Address __________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ E-Mail ___________________________________________________ [ ] Yes, I’d like the e-version so I get it sooner, and in color!

Swingtime Christmas 2014 SwingtimeJazz.org Page 3

Michael Joseph Wicks, one of Upstate’s most respected and ac-complished bass players, died Dec. 15 at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. He was 69. The Union College graduate was vice president of the Schenectady Musicians Union. He taught for 30 years at Berkshire Farm Center school and for 26 years as double bass instructor at Schenectady County Community College.

He had been first chair bass of Al-bany Symphony Orchestra and played with Berkshire, Glens Falls, Utica, Catskill and Schenectady symphony orchestras. He played for many stage musicals at Proctors and myriad professional and ama-teur companies. He led his own jazz quintet and starred locally with Peg Delaney, Nick Brignola, Leo Russo and Lee Shaw, among a host of other noteworthies. On the national stage, he played with Phil Woods, Chet Baker, Doc Cheatham, Bill Watrous, Sal Nestico and Zoot Sims. In the pop sector, he worked with The Platters, Florence

Henderson, Rita Moreno, Debbie Rey-nolds and Jim Nabors. Mike often sat in with artists at the Swing-time Jazz Society jam sessions and was among its concert performers. Our sympa-

thy goes to his family and many friends.

In Memoriam:

Mike Wicks, One of Top Bassists

Michael Joseph Wicks

For the area’s most up-to-date jazz calendar, visit

APlaceForJazz.org/calendar.htm

Page 4 SwingtimeJazz.org Swingtime Christmas 2014

An Interview with

Bria Skonberg On Friday, November 7, 2014, the Bria Skon-berg Quintet performed in concert for A Place for Jazz at the Unitarian Universalist Society (“the Whisperdome”) in Schenectady. Jerry Gordon spoke with Bria by phone on the day before the concert.

JG: Chilliwack, British Columbia. What is it about Chilliwack that brings out the jazz in people? The first time we saw you was at the 2005 festival in Victoria, followed by the one in Port Angeles the next week-end.

BS: Chilliwack has always had a very vibrant music scene. My family are musical hobbyists, but it’s really through school that I got my educa-tion and, you know, fell in love with music and jazz music specifically. Chilliwack has had a tra-ditional jazz festival there for over 20 years. And what was great about that was when I was 14 or 15 years old, and just learning how to play the trumpet and just starting to get my feet wet with jazz, I was watching people playing all jazz live; it wasn’t like on a recording. I could see how these people were performing and having fun with it. I think it has an infectious energy, and I certainly got caught with the bug at that time. Chilliwack has a jazz band, a jazz choir, a con-cert band, a concert choir, a steel-drum band, a hand-bell player, and now it’s got an R&B band, and a couple of Dixieland bands – it’s just kind of a vibrant music scene there.

JG: I’d forgotten about the Chilliwack festival. We never made it to that one. Kalispell, Montana, is an-other one that is no more.

BS: Several festivals have gone in recent years, but 10 years ago there was a trad jazz festival every weekend up and down the west coast when I was getting into the music. Basically, what happened when I graduated from high school, I started making cold calls to many of them.

JG: In ’05, when we saw you, in April, you were go-ing to graduate from college, in June, I guess.

BS: That was 2006. Yeah, so between 2001 and 2005, a lot of the groundwork was laid for what could now be considered my career (laughs). You know, I had a wonderful band, the 51

st

Eight/big band jazz band, we had a wonderful thing going.

JG: Yeah, that was a good group, and I even liked the name, 51st Eight. [Say it fast to get a nick-name for Canada.]

BS: Thank you.

JG: Where did you go to college?

BS: Capilano. It was called a college at that time, but it’s now a university. I got a degree in music.

JG: And that’s in BC?

BS: Yep, it’s in Vancouver. I moved from Chilli-wack to Vancouver in 2001, immediately after high school.

JG: Oh, OK very good. And then in what, ’07, you moved to New York?

BS: Nope. I spent most of 2006 to 2010, I played a lot with a big band in Vancouver, and also what I did was travelled to a lot of festivals and gigs. One year I was away about 25 weekends. I spent a lot of time in Europe playing at jazz festi-vals and jazz parties, either as a soloist, or with organized jazz bands. That was the majority of that time – a lot of travel time. I was rarely back in Vancouver. It was wonderful. I met so many people, and I wasn’t sure at that time what my next move would be. I knew I wanted to try some other career move. That’s when New York came up as the next big choice.

JG: You moved to the east coast, but you’re still not spending a lot of time here. I’ve seen your calendar.

BS: Well, not this month. I’ve been in New York 4 years. I moved here in fall of 2010, and cer-tainly that has been my focus since then, both New York and the United States, and getting in-tegrated into the scene, and the culture, and I really do love it in New York. It’s amazing. I mean, I’ll never get (Continued on Page 5)

Swingtime Christmas 2014 SwingtimeJazz.org Page 5

bored here. And now I have a regular band, which you’ll see tomorrow night. I have a group of guys that we have a similar… What was really special about the 51

st

Eight is that we didn’t just love making music to-gether, we liked hanging out together. You know, we were people that really felt like a band of people that genuinely liked each other, enjoyed each other. The group that I’ve got now has a lot of that, too. It even has one of the same mem-bers.

JG: Evan?

BS: Yeah, Evan Atrzen. I finally convinced him to move to New York. (laughs)

JG: I remember him from Victoria.

BS: Yeah, he’s been here since January and he’s eating it up.

JG: I see next month you’re off to Cleveland, and you’re off to Michigan, and back to British Columbia and all over the place.

BS: Yeah, well I um…I’m looking forward to this gig in Schenectady. This will be my last out-of-town gig for a while; it’s been 7 or 8 weekends in a row, but I won’t complain about it.

JG: OK. And you’re playing with all kinds of people, from Dan Levinson, and John Pizzarelli, another one of my favorites, and Jim Cullum, ...

BS: Yeah, a good mixture of… You know, a lot of these kind of veterans have taken me under their wings. I don’t want to say I’ve earned it, but I’ve put in a lot of time and I treat the music with respect. And as far as the traditional stuff is con-cerned, I really try to pay it respect and do it jus-tice. And what’s interesting about the group that’s coming to Schenectady is that it’s a uh … it’s kind of a group that takes an accumulation of all the things that I’ve learned and the things we’ve experienced and takes it to the next level. I’m somebody that, um, you know, you don’t move to New York unless you want to be un-comfortable. You know, you want to really chal-lenge yourself, and that’s what I guess I do.

JG: Sure…

BS: And so, New York has kind of embodied that for me, also this band, we’re kind of like, it feels like home, and at the same time, it’s always about trying something new. It’s fun. It’s interest-ing.

JG: Yes, I’m sure it is. You’ve come quite a ways.

The first time we saw you, not only with your musical abilities, on both trumpet and voice, we were im-pressed with your maturity and professionalism, and your stage presence. And you were, what, 20 at the time?

BS: Sure, yeah… You know, I never really feel 100% comfortable, because with the excitement and everything, I feel a little bit nervous, but I will say, I know it’s going to be ok. (laughs) And I feel confident with the people I’ve surrounded myself with.

JG: It’s been terrific, and I think it shows in your pro-gress. I like to feel proud that I discovered you, al-though it was certainly to myself that I discovered you, and not to the world. Also, you’ve been doing a lot of writing. I’ve been listening to your CDs this morning. The “Borderline” one with Jim Fryer is great, it’s strictly trad stuff, but the later CDs have a lot of your own compositions.

BS: Yeah, if you’re going to play obscure music, it might as well be your own. (laughs) Yeah, I’ve found great satisfaction in writing original music, which is still considered, most of it, accessible to a general audience. It tells kind of a story, in a way. Once you start doing that, once you start taking things to a deeper, more personal level, then it gets harder to play things that you don’t feel, that you don’t connect with. I’ve really been enjoying that process. Again, just putting a little more of my authentic self out there. It’s quite a cool experience, you know. A lot of what we do as musicians, or what I like to do, is get into a creative relationship with your audience mem-bers, the people that you play for, there’s a spe-cial connection there. I found that the more I share of myself, the more people give back.

JG: Yeah. Are some of your songs coming out of per-sonal experience? Some of the ones on “So Is the Day,” where you have the lyrics written out that I can actually read and think about, sound like they’re …

BS: Yeah, definitely. I don’t usually write about things I haven’t had any experience with or can’t empathize with.

JG: Well, I expect you’ll be well-received tomorrow.

BS: Thank you for making the time now to do this, because tomorrow’s going to be a heck of a long day. If you think of anything else, feel free to e-mail me.

JG: Thank you for taking this time, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

(Continued from Page 4)

Swingtime Christmas 2014Page 6

Down Memory Lane

Scott Bassinson and Russ Brooks

Rennie Crain

Bronte Roman

Hal Miller

Page 7Swingtime Christmas 2014

Down Memory Lane Photos by C. Robie Booth

Rennie CrainDino Cimino and Arvid Allen at Provence

Josh Greenberg

Peter Davis and Dan Levinson

Page 8 SwingtimeJazz.org Swingtime Christmas 2014

Sonny & Perley present a cabaret show featuring the music of Ella Fitzgerald at 6 p.m. on Jan. 24 in the beautiful historic Ten Broeck Mansion, corner of Livingston Avenue and Ten Broeck in Albany. Sonny Daye is the trio’s pianist (TBM has an excel-lent grand) and arranger. Perley Rousseau is a su-perb stylist, whether bopping a jazz standard, caress-ing a torch or love song, or adding freshness to a by-gone ballad. Her introductions are most entertaining and informative. On bass will be the highly regarded Lou Pappas. He is bassist for the Jazz Knights of West Point, chair bassist with the Hudson Valley Phil-harmonic and frequently appears here with Sonny & Perley and other top performers. There will be drinks and snacks available. There is ample free parking. This is high-toned artistry in an atmospheric setting. Reservations are strongly recom-mended. Call 436-9826 for pricing and reservations. The Georgie Wonders Orchestra featuring the splendid big band singer Linda Egan Johnson and the recently returned Paulina, in addition to the saxo-phonist-vocalist Erin Cioffi, will present “New Year’s Eve at the Waldorf” at Danceland on Columbia Street Extension, Latham. There will be free ballroom and Latin dance instruc-tion from 7:39-9:30. The orchestra plays from 9:30-12:30. The $65 admission includes a buffet, dessert and coffee table, champagne, hats and noisemakers (not you, Dipsy Nipspoon*). Reservations are re-quired: 785-3888. The next Proctors noontime organ concert Jan. 6 features Bill Hubert and Carl Hackert; on Feb. 3 it’s Claudia Bracaliello and Rob Kleinschmidt; March 17, Charles Jones; April 14, Helen Maksymicz; May 12, Nixon McMillan and Friends; June 2, Dan Minervini. All are free. * Bandleader Georgie said “Who’s that?” Since he read my Night Owl column in the ‘60s and ‘70s in The Knickerbocker News and he didn’t remember Dipsy, I guess I’d better refresh memories. Dipsy was the old souse who usually acted up in some local tavern, or maybe even a good restaurant, if he was on his uppers. I had stolen the idea from “Can You Top This?” in which the old reprobate was named Ditsy Baumortal.

LOOKING FORWARD

Swingin’ at TBM

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Swingtime Christmas 2014 SwingtimeJazz.org Page 9

Reservations: Doc Salvatore at (518) 584-3548

Proudly Presents

Sunday, January 11, 2015 4-6 p.m.

Followed by a one-hour open jam session

The Stockade Inn

1 N. Church St

Schenectady, NY

Pub menu and beverages available for purchase

Open to the public - $15/person ($5 for students)

Mark Kleinhaut Quartet Mark Kleinhaut

Chris Pasin

John Menegon

Bob Halek

Page 10 SwingtimeJazz.org Swingtime Christmas 2014

Jerry Gordon Receives Lifetime Achievemnt Award

C. Robie Booth (right), editor of Swingtime Magazine, presents its 16th annual Lifetime Achievement Award to Jerry Gordon “…who has been a leader in the Jazz community as editor, superfan, administrator and supporter of all good music. He has long served as president of the Swingtime Jazz Society and still maintains his standing as the leading Upstate washboard artist.”

Photo by Maryanne Gordon

Swingtime Christmas 2014 SwingtimeJazz.org Page 11

Swingtime Presents Mark Kleinhaut Quartet in Concert Backbeat Books, and was honored to

be included. During Kleinhaut’s thirty-year ca-reer, he has delved deeply into the standard rep-ertoire, explored his taste for modern and for-ward sounds, and incorporates a myriad of influ-ences. Mark looks for the spontaneous composi-tion within the composition, and feels a jazz group’s arranging on the fly is one of the most inspiring and magical experiences in music. Ad-ditionally, Kleinhaut relishes the opportunity to create original pieces. He has over 60 recorded compositions spanning six CDs released on the Invisible Music label, including a Jazzweek top 20 disc with saxophonist Bobby Watson and an-other album with trumpeter Tiger Okoshi. His lat-est project, Jones Street, a guitar duo with seven-string player Neil Lamb, was spontaneously composed, utilizing motifs from classical, jazz and folk music in a completely “free” setting. Chris Pasin earned a dual bachelor's degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in classi-cal and jazz trumpet performance, playing and re-cording under Jimmy Giuffre, Gunther Schuller, George Russell and Jaki Byard, under the last of which he studied jazz improvisation and composi-tion. During this time, he helped found the Medium Rare Big Band, which had the likes of musicians Jed Levy, Jeremy Kahn, and Steve Johns in it, and earned accolades at various jazz competitions and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis and Slide Hampton. He was also performing with the George Russell orchestra at the Village Vanguard in New York, and worked regularly as a sideman and studio musician in Boston for five years. Pasin spent two and a half years playing trumpet with the Buddy Rich band in the early '80s, at which time he relocated to New York City. This was a great growth period as the bus rides were like a listening room and had the influence of many of the great musicians of the band in that era, like Walt Weiskopf, Conrad Herwig and Dave Stahl. Much of the next decade was spent playing jazz with vari-ous groups, including several years with the To-shiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin big band, which pro-vided daily exposure to an even more inspiring group of great musicians, including Frank Wess.

John Menegon, having worked for several years on the Canadian jazz scene with the great guitar-ists Sonny Greenwich, Mike Gauthier and Nelson Simons, and saxophonists Steve Grossman and Pat LaBarbera, went on to hone his skills in NYC in the mid-'80s. Since moving to New York City to study jazz at Long Island University on a full schol-arship, John has performed and recorded with Dewey Redman, David “Fathead” Newman, Matt Wilson, Frank Kimbrough, John Hicks, Yoron Is-rael, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Burrell, Kenny Bar-ron, Bruce Barth, Paul Bley, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra, Nick Brignola, Bob Meyer, Jimmy Cobb, Al Foster, Slide Hampton, Sheila Jor-dan, Lee Konitz, J.R. Monterose, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Judy Silvano, Teri Roiger, Tineke Postma, Greg Osby, James Weidman, Steve Wil-liams and many others. John was an integral member of the Dewey Redman Quartet, as well as the David “Fathead” Newman Quintet, and spent over a decade performing, touring and recording with each of them. These jazz legends have taken John around the world, playing at jazz festivals in South Africa, Argentina, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Europe and the U.S., and have been a major influ-ence in his playing and compositions. John ap-pears on Newman’s four most recent CDs on High Note Records. The influence of these jazz legends, as well as master drummer Paul Motian, Brazilian vocalist Gal Costa and Ray Charles, are remem-bered and reflected in Menegon’s compositions on his new recording, I Remember You. Bob Halek, teacher and percussionist, is a na-tive of upstate New York. As a musician, his versa-tility keeps him very active recording and perform-ing with artists from many different disciplines: big band, jazz, Latin, funk, country, classical and R&B. He has performed on the Food Network and at the Newport Jazz Festival, as well as concerts, festi-vals and clubs throughout the Northeast. His cur-rent schedule includes performances with The Em-pire Jazz Orchestra, Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensem-ble, The Capitol Region Wind Ensemble, City Rhythm and various club bands. Halek was named the 2012 district-wide teacher of the year in the East Greenbush School District, where he teaches instrumental music. He also has appeared as a clinician and guest conductor for various concert bands, jazz bands and percussion ensembles.

(Continued from Page 1)

Join Swingtime Jazz Society The Swingtime Jazz Society roster of members has reached 67. You are en-couraged to join us by using the coupon on this page. The Society’s mission is to promote quality jazz by employing the finest re-gional artists for four or five events every year. The format is two hours of concert-cabaret music by the featured artists, followed by a one-hour jam session open to all cats. All members have a full vote on future attractions and electing officers of the non-profit corporation. We also have a wonderful series of dinner meetings hosted by members. There is a once-only fee of $100 for joining.

See Pages 1 and 9 for our January 11 attraction, the Mark Kleinhaut Quartet.

I want to join the Swingtime Jazz Society. Enclosed find my membership fee of $100. Name _____________________________ Address ___________________________ __________________________________ Phone ____________________________ E-mail ____________________________ Mail to: Patti Melita, SJS Treasurer PO Box 232 Troy, NY 12181-0232

C. Robie Booth 6 Briarwood Road Loudonville, NY 12211-1102 (518) 428-7618

The Index

Bria Skonberg Interview ……….….. Page 4 Down Memory Lane ……….....… Pages 6, 7 Looking Forward ……….…………… Page 8 Mark Kleinhaut ………….…..….. Pages 1, 9 Mike Wicks …………………………… Page 3 Night Owl ……………...….………….. Page 2 Swingtime Award ……………..…... Page 10 Swingtime Jazz Society ..…. Pages 1, 9, 12 Swingtime Subscription Form ….... Page 2 Ten Broeck Mansion ……….…..…... Page 8